The Last Hurrah
by dragonwings948
Summary: Three weeks after Clara tells the Doctor to leave, he comes back. How does Clara tell him that she doesn't want to travel anymore? A short one-shot as a prequel to "Mummy on the Orient Express." Copyright to BBC.


Clara Oswald paused outside of her apartment as the plastic handles of the grocery bags she held dug into her palms. Every day for three weeks she had secretly hoped, somewhere deep down inside of her, that the TARDIS would be parked in the middle of her living room. But she had told him to leave, so why wouldn't he have?

She sighed and unlocked the door, telling herself over and over again not to hope as she pushed the door open. Nothing. Just the normal apartment.

"No more hoping," she muttered to herself. "Not like I'm going to keep traveling with him, anyway."

And yet, there was a deep fear inside of her that he wouldn't come back. She had tried to call the TARDIS to no avail. Maybe he was just as mad with her as she was with him. She had already decided that she was done traveling, but it didn't mean she didn't want to see him ever again.

"The eggs are going to get crushed."

Clara gasped at the sound of the voice coming from the direction of her bedroom, but relaxed as her mind quickly registered whom it belonged to.

"They really should hire another bagger. You can't put the milk on top of the eggs, everyone knows that!"

Clara ignored him and went to the kitchen to put the grocery bags down. At the sound of his voice, the old anger flared up inside of her again, but at the same time she also felt infinitely relieved.

"I'm serious, you know. Those eggs are gonners."

Clara took a deep breath and turned to face the Doctor, clad in his usual black jacket and collared white shirt. He wore an amused smile with his hands in his pockets, completely at ease as he stood in the middle of her living room.

"Where's the TARDIS?" she found herself asking, the first thing that came to mind.

The Doctor jerked a thumb behind him. "Your room. I know you told me not to park it there, but I got the calculations a bit wrong so there it is. Landed on your bed, actually, but don't worry it's light enough to-"

"Where have you been?"

His smile faded. "I went away like you wanted me to. I thought three weeks was enough time for you to get over it." He took a step backwards. "Now come on, there's this planet where-"

Clara made it a point to sound firm, using her teacher voice. "Doctor." It had the desired effect as he paused. "I can't…" She pictured all the places she had gone, all the things she had seen with the Doctor. They had been amazing, beautiful, and so worth it, but she had a real life now, and she couldn't keep going like this, especially when the Doctor treated her like she was nothing.

"I can't keep doing this." She watched his expression turn to confusion. "I can't keep living two lives like this, it's too much."

The Doctor gestured with his hand. "But you're doing fine. Soldier boy still loves you, and you've still got a job. I'd say you're getting along just fine."

Clara shook her head. "No. You don't know what it's like to be on the verge of death one hour and then teaching kids Shakespeare the next. I thought I could do it, Doctor, but I just can't anymore." She was careful not to say anything about him being part of the reason she wanted to leave, as she didn't want to be mad at him again.

He pressed his lips together in a hard line. "Is this still about the moon?" he asked, a little quieter.

Oh, he really was so oblivious. "No, this isn't about the moon, this is about _you!" _The words exploded from her mouth as she pointed a finger at him. She sighed, reverting to a normal volume. "Look, Doctor, I've loved traveling with you, and I don't regret one minute of it. But there's a point where I have to draw the line, and that's now."

His expression fell, just a little. He nodded and straightened to his full height. "So this is it, then?"

The "yes" was on her tongue, but Clara couldn't bring herself to say it. Seeing the universe had been her life for so long now, and she didn't want to give it up just like that.

"One more trip." She looked into his hard eyes, pleading. "That's all I want. Nothing dangerous, not life-threatening, just…a trip."

His lips curved into a small smile. "The last hurrah."

Clara smiled a little in response. "Yeah."

The Doctor promptly spun around and started toward Clara's room. "One not dangerous trip coming right up. I know the perfect place."

Clara pushed the door open after the Doctor and watched as he jumped onto her bed, his shoes all over her sheets. "Where are we going?" she asked, pushing her annoyance to the side.

He looked back over his shoulder with one hand on the TARDIS door and grinned. "The Orient Express. In _space." _


End file.
